Redefining data items
Using Redefined Data Items Setup (RDI) you can create new data items, as a subset of an existing standard data item. These new data items can be referenced in Rule Sets (RST), Event Profiles (EVP) and Rule Data Set Keys (RDK).
This is particularly useful where you are using structured codes, where different sections of a code have distinct meanings, and you need to reference each part of the code separately in a Rule Set. You can redefine the data item to create new, redefined, data items for each element in the code.
For example, Ledger Analysis 3 contains three character Product codes. The first character identifies Product Group and the second and third characters identify the individual Product. Using Redefined Data Items Setup, you can redefine the Ledger Analysis 3 data item to create a new data item called Product Group. Product Group only contains the first character of Ledger Analysis 3. You can then refer to the Product Group data item in a Rule Set, as required.
The new redefined data items appear in the Data Dictionary Lookup list, under the Function Data Hierarchy. This list is sorted alphabetically by description.
Date, Period and Amount Formats
Redefined dates and periods are treated as alphanumeric data items. The format of the date used in redefined data items is specified in Business Unit Setup as the Date Format and the Date Separator. The date separator character is included in the data item. For example, if the format is set to European (dd/mm/yyyy), with date separator '/' forward slash, then the 'yyyy' year can be derived in a redefined data item by specifying a Start Position of 7, and Data Length of 4.
The period format is ppp/yyyy, and the '/' forward slash character is included in the data item. For example, the period's year can be derived in a redefined data item by specifying a Start Position of 5, and Data Length of 4.
If a financial amount is referenced in a redefined data item, the amount format automatically truncates any decimal places, and excludes the thousands separator characters. The amount is further truncated at the number/character specified by the Start Position which acts from right to left, that is, starting with the units (least significant digit) as position 1, and tens as position 2, hundreds as 3, and so on. For example, if a base amount of 12,345.56 is referenced, a redefined data item with Start Position of 2 would give 12,340; with a Start Position of 3 would give 12,300.